A Woman Is a Woman: Godard Looks Like a Jerk

How could anyone be mean to Anna Karina (pictured)? Sad to say it, but her husband and director, Jean-Luc Godard, comes off looking like a misogynist jerk in this 1961 love triangle. She wants a baby from her sullen, no-good boyfriend (Jean-Claude Brialy, right, smoking an awful lot for a cyclist), who blithely suggests she get knocked up instead by their pal (Jean-Paul Belmondo, left, making turtlenecks look fabulous). Even if the film is putatively about women, it's really about two guys who whisper, snicker, and conspire against the unknowable feminine other. "Is this a tragedy or a comedy?" one asks. "With a woman, you never know," comes the reply. The colors dazzle in this new print, and there are some funny gags, but Godard's constant messing with the soundtrack and mocking of the prior conventions of screen romance almost spoils your appreciation of Karina's eternal charm. Almost. (NR) Varsity. Fri. Oct. 10-Thurs. Oct. 16. BRIAN MILLER info@seattleweekly.com